Shining a Light on No One You Know
a book by Jason Schwartzman. No, not that Jason Schwartzman. The author one.
Jason Schwartzman the actor does not need me to spotlight him. Speaking of JS, though, has anyone seen the film he stars in, called Listen Up, Phillip, about an egotistical writer whose first novel is releasing? It’s somewhat insufferable, but also funny and entertaining. Plus, Elizabeth Moss.
The Jason Schwartzman I’m talking about is author of the forthcoming book, No One You Know, and a former student of mine.
I met Jason in the first memoir course I EVER taught back in July 2015 at Gotham Writers Workshop (extremely affordable classes BTW) The class ran from 7pm to 10pm near 34th street. At the time I was hustling extremely hard: I’d take the Amtrak in at 7a.m., arrive in NYC at 9a.m., teach a memoir class from 10a.m. to 1p.m., then kill six hours (I began going to the movies between classes to cleanse my palate) and then teach the 7p.m. class. I took the 1045p.m. train home, rolled up to Hudson at 1a.m. and walked back to my apartment.
My friend Steph Georgopulos, editor-in-chief at Human Parts/Medium was in the class, too. I remember once she said Jason’s writing was so good that it was annoying. Ha! In that memoir class there was also a married couple in their seventies. After class Steph and I would have a class of wine at the shittiest bars around Penn Station before my train.
Anyway, after 2015, Jason kept at it. Kept writing. Kept submitting. Kept getting rejected and accepted. Published at Narratively. Published at Hobart. Now, I see Aaron Burch, editor at Hobart has blurbed his book. Five years went by but he stayed dedicated; got his name out there.
This is a cautionary tale—keep doing the work and it will pay off. The payoff may be smaller, or different than how you imagine. The payoff won’t be your name in lights. You’ll have to work much harder and much longer than you can imagine. The payoff may not be your book getting published; it could be something else, something different, something better, something you can’t fathom now.
But maybe one day you’ll send your former memoir teacher an email like this one:
Subject line: you were my book’s fairy godmother
“After many rejections and some close calls the last few years, I’m over-the-moon to report No One You Know found a home with Outpost19. It’s a collection of creative nonfiction about strangers and what it means to know someone.
Besides all your insightful tips and references, I feel like that class was where I found my confidence and thought: huh, maybe I can really do this. I remember you asking us to say our goals and mine was this. It took a few years but I did it!”
Jacket copy: During a lonely and difficult year, author Jason Schwartzman began allowing regular, everyday interactions with strangers to escalate. In NO ONE YOU KNOW, Schwartzman compiles dozens of these encounters and deftly reveals the kinship he finds there, ultimately reconsidering what it means to know someone. From taxi dispatchers to aquarium attendants, drifters to neighbors, exes to siblings, Schwartzman captures the space between people, meticulously distilling the turning point when strangers become intimates. Heartbreaking, insightful, and often profoundly funny, NO ONE YOU KNOW revels in connections, examining how we make ourselves known. A rich and beautiful debut.
I hadn’t heard of Outpost19 until now, but they look pretty cool, and are also open for submissions.
Pre-ordering books is really helpful to the author because it shows there is pre-love for the book. Order it directly from the publisher OutPost19. It is such good karma to support emerging authors. If you can’t afford buying new books, just tell people about the books you love, spread the gospel. And congratulations, Jason Schwartzman.